Arthur Shilstone

When legendary sportsman Ed Gray, founder of America’s most important sporting magazine Gray’s Sporting Journal, wanted to select an artist to illustrate his definitive book on fly fishing, Flashes in the River, he looked throughout the world and chose Arthur Shilstone. This came as no surprise to fly fishing connoisseurs of art, as he was often referred to as the Ogden Pleissner of today. And there are many reasons why.

Shilstone’s distinguished career spanned over 50 years. After graduating from high school, Arthur enrolled at Pratt Institute, but when the United States entered World War II he enlisted in the Army. After a short time he was assigned to the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion, which specialized in deceiving the enemy through special effects and deploying regiments of inflatable rubber 93-pound M4 tanks. Hollywood made a movie about this remarkable battalion and Shilstone acted as a consultant.

After World War II, he was discovered by Life Magazine and went on many important assignments, including coverage of the Sam Shepard Murder Trial, the funeral of Senator Joseph McCarthy, an investigation of the sinking of the Andrea Doria and school integration argued before the Supreme Court

Readers of nearly every major publication will be familiar with his evocative paintings as his work illustrated articles in the likes of Smithsonian, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and The New York Time Magazine, to name a few. He was an award winning member of the American Watercolor Society and the Society of Illustrators.

Over the last 25 years, when the Smithsonian Institution wanted someone to capture the story of important military events for their magazine, from the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Invasion of Normandy to coverage of air lift operations (especially the evacuation of wounded soldiers during the Korean war), they called on Arthur. For NASA, he did a series of paintings of the Space Shuttle, beginning with her maiden voyage. His artwork went a long way towards defining how Americans have seen historic events.

About 20 years ago, Arthur began painting outdoor sporting scenes for himself. These wonderfully lyric and spontaneous paintings of places like the Adirondack lake country, salmon running the Maramachi, Chesapeake marshes, the Alaskan tundra and lush Connecticut waterways, can be seen in collections across the country.

These works are masterful, fresh and spontaneous. Under Shilstone’s extremely skilled hands, details are subtle in his washes and what emerges is as much a feeling as a picture; as much a sense to be placed as a place to be sensed. He managed to paint his riverscapes in such a way that you feel like you’ve fished that spot.

We are very proud to offer you the opportunity to view the work of this modern American master.